SAM Magazine—Hope, B.C., April 22, 2013—Sunshine Valley RV Resorts has purchased The Manning Park resort, which went into receivership four years ago. Manning Park manages Nordic and Alpine facilities in addition to campgrounds. The new owners, Kevin and Donna Demers, said the resort will keep its name, and they plan to reopen soon, ...

SAM Magazine--April 22, 2013--Vail Resorts, Inc., reported certain ski season metrics for the comparative periods from the beginning of the ski season through April 14, 2013 and for the prior year period through April 15, 2012. The reported numbers are adjusted as if Kirkwood, Calif., was owned in both periods, but exclude the newly-acquired Afton ...

SAM Magazine--April 22, 2013--Earl Holding, the owner of Sun Valley, Idaho, and Snowbasin, Utah, died on April 19 at the age of 86. Holding, who primarily made his fortune with Sinclair Oil, bought Sun Valley in 1977 and oversaw its transformation into an internationally-recognized four-season resort. Holding's Snowbasin underwent a similar tra...

SAM Magazine--April 19, 2013--Orville A. Slutzky, age 96, the beloved co-founder of Hunter Mountain, N.Y., passed away peacefully on April 18, 2013, in the company of loved ones. Orville was born in Hunter on February 13, 1917 and was raised on his parents’ farm in Jewett, N.Y. Slutzky is survived by three children (Carol Slutzky-Tenerowicz, ...

SAM Magazine—Vail, Colo., April 18, 2013—It’s a season for extended seasons. Following the postponed closing dates at many Northeastern areas this April, several Colorado resorts have extended their seasons, too. A late-season storm cycle has dropped several feet of snow on the mountains, and a couple of feet on the Front Range, c...

SAM Magazine—Catskill, N.Y., April 18, 2013—The Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) has proposed a five-year, $74 million expansion of the Belleayre ski center that could double the area’s annual visits. The plan, developed largely before ORDA took over control of Belleayre from the Department of Environmental Conservati...

SAM Magazine—Georgetown, Colo., April 16, 2013—The U.S. Forest Service has accepted the master development plan for Loveland Ski Area, setting the outline for expansion and improvement plans for the next decade or more. Specific projects included in the plan will still be required to undergo the usual environmental approval process, but...

SAM Magazine--April 11, 2013--U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell today announced a series of meetings in Colorado, Utah and California that will focus on the development of a ski area water rights clause impacting ski facility operations on national forests. “Skiing is an important recreational activity on our nation’s forests and...

SAM Magazine--April 10, 2013--Mt. Bachelor, Ore.'s Ski Area Improvement Project was given the green light after no appeals were filed with the Deschutes National Forest during the 45-day appeal period, which ended on April 1, 2013. The approval initiates the first updated master development plan for Mt. Bachelor in 32 years. The 10-year deve...

SAM Magazine--April 10, 2013--Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) is reported that winter 2013 ended with the highest level of skier/rider visits in the resort’s history. The end of season total of approximately 502,222 visits surpasses the previous record set during the winter of 2008, a winter that saw significantly more in season snowfall ...

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., April 8, 2013—Ryan Bell of CNL Financial Group, Ross Boisvert of McIntyre Ski Area, Rob McSkimming of Whistler Blackcomb, and Justin Rowland of Ski Apache have earned the 2013 SAMMY Leadership Awards, given annually to individuals who will shape the future of the winter resort industry. This is the 14th yea...

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., April 8, 2013—The 13th annual SAM Magazine Cutter’s Camp West session at Timberline, Ore., May 13-17 has filled all available slots. “We urge would-be campers to get on the waiting list as soon as possible” by sending an email to liz@saminfo.com, said SAM publisher Olivia Rowan.

SAM Magazine—Hancock, Mass., April 5, 2013—Father and son team Brian and Tyler Fairbank have formed The Fairbank Group, LLC to manage and oversee its group of businesses that includes Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, Cranmore Mountain Resort and Bromley Mountain, as well as EOS Ventures, Bullwheel Productions and other endeavors. As part of...

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., April 5, 2013—Snowsports retail sales reached $3.1 billion for the season through February, up 2 percent compared to August through February 2011-12, according to the SIA RetailTRAK retail audit conducted by Leisure Trends Group for Snowsports Industries America (SIA). Backcountry gear showed the greatest ...

SAM Magazine—Canton, Mass., April 4, 2013—Ski Blue Hills Management is seeking a longer-term lease for the state-owned Blue Hills Ski Area here so that it can make capital improvements to the area. Typically the state offers five-year leases, and Ski Blue Hills operated this past winter on a one-year extension to its former lease. Bl...